August 16th, 2016 | A long day’s goodnight

Tuesday. A rainy morning. Woke up at 6 30 am mostly from Hunger. Slept fairly well during the night, not too much trouble. Hospital beds are very uncomfortable of course. But the bed was big enough so that I could sleep next to my son. My wife slept in a fold-up bed next to us.

While my boss was gracious enough to allow me to have time off, my wife’s boss wasn’t. So she needed a good night’s rest. Sleeping next to Alex is a restless sleep, because you are very aware of his movements. I needed to make the sacrifice of course.

The doctor visited us at about 7 a.m. and told us that Alexander has a few different viruses in his intestine and has leaked a little bit of it to his liver. Good gracious I thought what the hell is this? More importantly where on Earth did he pick this up from? It could only be the daycare center.

As my wife had some breakfast, I took Alexander for a stroll around the hospital ward in a child wheelchair. Never imagined seeing my own son in a wheelchair. How strange life is.

At about 8:15 a.m. I gave Alex his 2nd bottle of milk for the morning. 200cc of formula milk for toddlers. Which is made in Australia. How about that. A little while later the nurses gave him some medicine for me to give to him. I use an oral syringe to put it into his mouth, otherwise it will spill everywhere if I use a medicine cup or something like that. Pretty effective way to dispense medicine for a baby I think, or toddler I should say.

9 am. Thank goodness for TV and Teletubbies. Teletubbies is a british childrens education show. Alex loves to watch it. Good for him and me to take a break for at least 30 minutes.

Alexander’s grandfather arrived at about 9:20 a.m. Alex was very happy to see him. They went for a walk around the ward for a while in a wheelchair. While I cleaned up around the bed and went to get some hot coffee.

10am. There was a strange sensation in my mouth as I watched Alex playing with his Samsung tablet. I seem to have a tooth loose in my upper jaw. It also seems a little jaggered, perhaps it’s broken off somehow. These little taunts in life are forever flowing. I will have to see a dentist before the end of the week. Luckily one of my students in Tainan has a father who is a dentist. I’ve been to him twice before and he is quite good. Dental care in Taiwan is quite cheap luckily. In Australia it is the opposite. It’s quite horrendously expensive. The Healthcare System in Taiwan is one the best in the world I think. I believe Cuba’s is too. Affordable, professional and a minimum waiting time.

By 1030 a.m. my father-in-law had got some Congee for Alexander. It’s basically soft rice with a bit of flavoring. Alexander consumed it all so at least he’s getting his appetite back. Over the past week he hasn’t been eating very much or drinking properly.

11:12 am. Alex fell asleep in the wheel chair as granddad pushed him around. So we quickly transferred him into the hospital cot.

12:30pm. Dad went home after buying a lunchbox for me and my wife arrived during her work break. Alex woke up from his slumber and a nurse came to get an update of the situation. We are waiting for a stool sample actually. Then it can be diagnosed effectively.

At 1 p.m. I made a dash for the convenience store downstairs. I needed a dose of wake me up coffee. The children’s Ward is on the 9th floor and it is directly above the E.R. on the first floor. The E.R is always obviously filled with incoming trauma patients. So it’s always a bit traumatic to go and get coffee. As if I didn’t have enough drama in my life I have to see other people. Then again it makes my situation not seem so bad at all.

From 1:30 to 6:30p.m. I spent alone with Alexander wandering the halls of the hospital and walking around in circles. During that time Alexander did discover on his Tab how to play lots of different video clips on YouTube, Cleverboy.

At 6:30 p.m. I had to race home and feed the birds and the cats. We have 2 birds and 3 cats. Apparently they were starting to think about checking into hospital as well … sorry guys. Then I discovered that we had run out of both cat food and bird seed. So then I had to race out to the local dollar shop and buy some more.

Got back to the hospital by about 8 p.m. We gave Alex a sponge bath and got him ready for bed. Hopefully he will sleep soundly and so shall we. The end of another long rainy day.